The Future of Nursing. Importance of IOM report. Nursing Essay

Future of Nursing
Name
Institution
Future of Nursing
The Work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Committee Initiative
The IOM and RWJF formed a partnership in an effort to strengthened nurses to ensure improved delivery of health-care services (Institute of Medicine (IOM), 2011). This partnership led to the formation of the RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing. This partnership was deemed important based on the commitment of RWJF to ensuring that the nursing practice has an effective workforce and IOM’s mission to improve the country’s health by acting as an advisor (IOM, 2011). The RWJF committee first developed a vision where all diverse population has access to a safe and quality healthcare system. The committee was tasked with examining the nursing workforce to establish whether they have the capacity to attend to the public, which has high health demand (IOM, 2011). Further, the committee assessed the health system innovative solutions, especially those regarding nursing education and delivery of services.
Importance of IOM report
The IOM report has great importance to the nursing practice in the sense that it recommended all nurses to be allowed to practice as per their education and practice (IOM, 2011). This recommendation has been helpful to the nursing practice because nurses in different hospitals have been allowed to perform all duties and responsibilities such as full prescriptive and practice authority, especially for nurse practitioners (Altman, Butler, & Shern, 2016). This has worked in removing barriers to the scope of practice in nursing. Further, it has resulted in an improved efficiency in the delivery of quality health services (Altman, Butler, & Shern, 2016), which is at the core of nursing practice.
In terms of education, the IOM report recommended the achievement of higher education level for all nurses (IOM, 2011). Such high levels of education and training are essential if nurses are to offer quality and safe health services to patients. Since the IOM report was released, the number of nurses enrolling for the baccalaureate program has increased steadily and the number of doctor of nursing enrollment has doubled (Altman, Butler, & Shern, 2016), indicating that the report has impacted nurses’ education positively. The number of four-year nursing programs has increased, an indication that the education system is expanding. Further, the number of Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) has increased, and what’s more impressive is the fact that more hospitals now prefer to higher nurses with a BSN (Altman, Butler, & Shern, 2016). It is thus safe to say that the report has been influential on nurses’ education.
The report also emphasized the importance of having an effective workforce, facilitated by proper planning and information infrastructures (IOM, 2011). The workforce, in this case, focuses on the skills and competencies of nurses. Further, the IOM report has facilitated diversity in the nursing workforce, with the focus being on providing a more cultural-centered patient care (Altman, Butler, & Shern, 2016). As such, minority communities have also been given more opportunities to join the nursing profession, which will incre...